Sing for you

Adult patient Tony Santia, center, selects a song, assisted by rehab technician Skip Kessler and music therapy director Lynn Coyle.

“You don’t need to sing like an ‘Idol’ to participate. You don’t even need to know how to sing!”

That was the invitation delivered to Matheny staff members, students and patients on Wednesday, August 15, for a mid-week program called “Singing for Yourself” held during lunch time by the music therapy department.

Music therapists use various types of music to positively impact students’ and patients’ cognitive, physical, emotional and social skills, helping them realize their potential in society. Activities and techniques include improvisation, rhythm, songwriting, songs, chants, instrumental activities, live music and recorded music.

Employee nurse Joan Ray sings along with music therapist Greg Perkins.

From left, Teddy and Maura Sommers, Jessica Evans holding her painting and Grace Sommers.

In the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, Sharon Held and her sister Maura, both of whom lived in Mendham, NJ, were regular volunteers at Matheny. Sharon, inspired by her experience at Matheny, went on to become a physical therapist and now lives in the Buffalo area where she is an associate professor at Daemen College in Amherst, NY.

When her sister, now Maura Sommers of Bridgewater, NJ, visited the Arts Access exhibit at the Bernardsville, NJ, Public Library in July, she decided to buy a painting as a special birthday gift for Sharon from her five siblings, parents, nieces and nephews.  Sharon’s 50th birthday was July 3.

Maura selected “Soaring So High You Can’t Even See It,” by Jessica Evans. The artist met with Sommers, her daughter Grace and her son Teddy to record a video interview that will be presented to Sharon along with the painting. Evans explained that the circles in her painting, “show my personality, and I love glitter. It shows me how I was feeling that day.”

Sommers hopes Sharon will be able to visit Matheny in December when she will be in New Jersey for several days.

Arts Access makes it possible for people with disabilities to create fine art, assisted by professional artist-facilitators.

Matheny’s Community Services department has created a new program called “Services for Early Educators,” which assists local child care centers and preschools in educating children with special needs. We recognize the passion that early educators have to provide the best early education experience to all of the children at their centers.

We also know that children do not exist independently – they are part of a family. Quality early educators are equally committed to providing assistance and support to families so they make the best choices for their children.

Matheny’s “Services for Early Educators” program provides continuing education for staff, behavioral consultations within classrooms and support to families of the children served.

For more information about this program, call Linda Newsome at (908) 234-0011, ext. 751, or email her at lnewsome@matheny.org

Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula, left, and Steve Proctor, Matheny president, admire an untitled painting by Arts Access artist Michael Martin.

New Jersey Assemblyman Upendra J. Chivukula (D) recently visited Matheny to familiarize himself with our mission and to better understand the needs of people with disabilities in the state.

Touring the entire Matheny facility, the assemblyman finished up in the Robert Schonhorn Arts Center, where he learned about Matheny’s unique Arts Access Program, which enables people with disabilities to create fine art, assisted by professional artist-facilitators.

Chivukula, who is deputy speaker of the Assembly and chair of the Telecommunications and Utilities Committee, is running for Congress in New Jersey’s Seventh District, opposing incumbent Rep. Leonard Lance (R). Chivukula was elected to the Assembly in 2002.

Locking arms to create a spinning motion.

During the summer months, Matheny students have had the opportunity to increase their independence in the outdoor swimming pool through new individual and group strategies introduced by therapists and educators. The Matheny staff members used resources introduced by master clinician Jane Styer-Acevedo PT, C/NDT. Styer-Acevedo suggested that students be encouraged to explore the pool and equipment, “while learning about their bodies.”

Some of the activities have included:

• Locking hands and arms with students to create a spinning action.

• Passing students in the water from staff person to staff person in a clockwise motion.

• Using a pool noodle to sit on or hold while doing stationary rocking and balancing.

• Volleying a beach ball while in the pool.

Phys ed teacher Jim Hintenach and physical therapist Erin Guidera help student Jenna Poleyeff manage the pool noodles.

All of these activities are designed to increase communication and develop more independent skills.

Teamwork between respiratory therapists and nurses is extremely important, says Dan Cary RRT, far left, director of Matheny’s respiratory therapy department.

Respiratory therapy is a medical specialty that provides a wide range of therapeutic and diagnostic services to patients with cardio-pulmonary issues. Heart and lung disorders may not be part of Matheny patients’ primary diagnoses, but the importance of monitoring and treating these conditions among the Matheny population cannot be underestimated.

Matheny’s newly expanded respiratory therapy department, directed by Dan Cary RRT, consists of four full-time therapists and three who work on a per diem basis. While the department is not yet in operation  24/7, Cary says, “We are moving toward 24/7, and a respiratory therapist is always on call.” The RRTs and CRTs, adds Cary, “play a critical role in the lives of patients with developmental disabilities and respiratory illness. They are responsible for patient assessments, care planning, staff education and providing various treatment modalities.”

Gary E. Eddey, MD, vice president and chief medical officer, believes Matheny’s new respiratory therapy department, “advances us, from a clinical perspective. The role of respiratory therapists here is critically important, given the wide range of complex medical conditions experienced by our patients. The expansion of respiratory therapy positions us for the future, should we be asked to care for patients with even more complicated issues.”

The respiratory therapists at Matheny now have experience, Cary says, “ranging from 25-week-old neonates in a NICU to 100-year-old ventilator-dependent patients in a long-term assisted facility. We do everything we can to make sure every one of Matheny’s patients gets to experience every facet of life they possibly can.”

On Saturday, August 25, Macy’s will partner with Matheny to invite customers to participate in its seventh annual “Shop for a Cause” charity shopping event. It’s a unique one-day-only event created to support local non-profits’ fundraising efforts.

You can purchase $5 shopping passes from Matheny by contacting Patricia Cats at (908) 234-0011, ext. 260, or emailing her at pcats@matheny.org. Matheny keeps 100% of every shopping pass it sells, and your shopping pass will entitle you to special discounts on most regular, sale and clearance purchases all day.

So, shop ‘til you drop – it’s for a great cause: helping the children and adults with disabilities who we serve.

A customer making a purchase at Second Chance.

The Friends of Matheny’s Second Chance thrift shop, which is closed for the summer, will reopen for one day on Wednesday, August 22 for “First Chance at Second Chance,” a preview of items available for sale when the shop reopens permanently on September 4.

The Second Chance Shop established a new record last season, raising more than $126,000, which was 48% more than the previous season’s $85,000. The shop was operating in a new location, a building adjacent to the Gladstone United Methodist Church. For several years prior to that, it had operated out of the church’s basement. Funds raised by the thrift shop help support several activities and programs at Matheny.

“The Ice C” by Arts Access artist Ellen Kane.

The awards were announced at the NJSCA’s annual meeting held at the War Memorial in Trenton. Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno, commenting on the grants, said, “Investing in the arts is critical to New Jersey’s future. Today’s grants will serve as a catalyst of economic growth and jobs, not to mention a key contributor to improving our overall quality of life.”

Untitled by Arts Access artist Faith Stolz.

Teaching assistant Jenny Pianucci, left, helps student Matthew Detgen use a switch to register a smoothie sale for Julia Stoumbos, program manager at the Kessler Foundation.

Last fall, Matheny received a $30,000 Community Employment Grant from the Kessler Foundation to fund our “21st Century Skills Transition to Employment Opportunities Program.” This grant will enhance and expand prevocational realistic learning activities for our transition students (ages 18-21).

Recently, Julia Stoumbos, Kessler Foundation program manager, visited Matheny to view the program firsthand. Among the activities she observed was the Tea Time Café, a snack bar run by students for Matheny employees.

Twice a week from 10:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., three students, a teacher and an occupational therapist are stationed in the rotunda near Matheny’s dining rooms to offer cappuccino, smoothies, English muffins and other treats for sale. A new feature of the Tea Time Café is the opportunity for students to use two HP Touchsmart 610 xt series computers, donated by Francis Mancho of Budd Lake, NJ. Mancho had received a  $30,000 grant  from the Jenny Jones Foundation so Matheny could purchase the computers, which are important because the students’ disabilities make it difficult for them to ring up sales on a cash register.

Student Yasin Reddick practices using one of the new Touchsmart computers.

Volunteer painters in front of the new kitchen mural, from left: Christian Cook, son of Matheny adult services instructor Claire Torsiello; Audrey Lee; Chiang; Amy Ho; Nicole Schroeder, daughter of Matheny personal care assistant Imelda Schroeder; and Brian Ho.

When Matheny’s dining room committee decided the children’s dining room needed a new look, they called on Pearl Chiang, a nurse at Matheny, who is also a professional artist.

Chiang created a concept called “Paradise” and then recruited young volunteers — including her son and daughter, Amy and Brian Ho — to transform the idea into a mural, using her sketch as a guide. The five teenage volunteers finished the mural in three days.